Description of several temples of Kerala which are the mini editions of deep devotion
P.R.Ramachander

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Trichattu Maha Vishnu temple

Trichattu Maha Vishnu temple

(Consecrated by
Yudhishtra, the eldest of Pandavas)

Compiled by

P.R.Ramachander

TRichithattu
Maha Vishnu temple is sitauated 2 km aaway from Changannur in the
Chengannur-Pandanadu road. People
believe that it was a temple consecrated
by Yudhishtra , the eldest of the
Pandavas. It seems After Parikshith, the son of Abhimanyu was made the king, The Pandavas decided to take up Vanaprashtha and came to
Kerala. They were greatly attracted
by the divine atmosphere at that
place. After dpoing penance there , when
they decided to go to the other world, . Yudhishtra who had
to tell unwillingly a lie about Aswathama’s death , was greatly
worried about the sin that he did and
wanted to consecrate The MahaVishnu
idol he was worshipping in some place in
Chengannoor. He it seems consecrated
that statue in Trichattu.

Nammalavar a great
Vaishnavite saint of Tamil Nadu had
visited this place and has sung about this God and because of that this
temple is included as one of the 108
Divya Desams .

The God in the
temple faces east and adjoining the wall
is the tank known as Trichitharu(Holy
stream) or Shanku Theertham. .The temple has a high walled enclosure , which
has dorrs on all the four sides. Except for some statues made of wood in the
Namaskara Mandap . , the temple has a very simple architecture. But the sanctum
sanctorum is built by granite stone..
The God in this temple is in a standing pose and has been chiseled out of
granite stone. The peculiarity of the Lord is that only in
this temple the Lord holds the conch in his right hand instead of the wheel .The learned
people are of the opinion that this indicates that the God is not
in a position to destroy but to look after the world.The lord holds the wheel on the
left hand and the lotus flower on the lower
right hand. The temple also has
two subsidiary temples , one for God Sastha and the God Gosala Krishnan.

This temple was
also the place where the caste court of
Namboodiri Brahmins of Kerala were
situated. There used to be one great Namboodiri having a title of
Smarthan. He was the judge who used to enquire and punish several
ladies for the lack of their virtue. This process in the Namboodiri
families were called
Smartha Vicharam. Thousands of innocent women under suspicion of having lost their virtue have been punished in this place.. The familes of these clans are
now almost lost for ever and this great temple which was once great had lost all its glory. On 18th
may 1996, some miscreatnts broke open the door of the sanctum sanctorum and
broke the original idol. When next day
this was noticed, the great thanthric Thazhamon Namboodiri, got out the God’s
spirit in that idol and placed it on the
Uthsava idol.. Omn 19th may 1997 a new idol was consecrated at this temple. Now the temple is again
regaining its pristine glory.